IHHP recognizes Kurtis Blow today for Black History month. As we continue our series on historical people and companies in the Hip Hop Culture. It would be a great error if we did not acknowledge the first rapper to sign a major record deal. Kurtis Walker aka Kurtis Blow born August 9, 1959 in Harlem NY. Kurtis Blow signed his first record deal with Mercury records in 1979 his album Christmas Rappin sold more than 400,000 copies and his follow up The Breaks went gold. One of the other things that stood out about Kurtis Blow was his lyrics as he was quoted in BIO TRUE STORY I recorded over 200 tracks and I have never used any profanity. I always thought that was just me trying to have some dignity, some integrity. Kurtis Blow was also the first to embark on a national & international tour. He was also the first rapper to sign an endorsement deal. At this point of his career his manager was Russell Simmons and his regular DJ was Run from Run DMC. Runs name at that time was Son of Kurtis Blow. Kurtis also worked with many other artist including The Fat Boys and helped them land a record deal. His other credits include contributing rap material to TV Soap Opera One Life To Live In the early 90s. Later he spent several years hosting an Old School Hip Hop show on Los Angeles Radio station power 106FM. In 1997 Rhino records hired Kurtis to produce, compile and write liner notes for the 3 volume series Kurtis Blow presents The History of Hip Hop. Kurtis Blow thank you for your contribution to the Hip Hop Culture..
Posted on: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 04:17:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015